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MASTER’S THESIS Master’s Program in Multicultural and International Education February 2020 Title: A Fine Balance: Steadying the Heyerdahl’s Heritage and Indigenous Knowledge at the Kon-Tiki Museum Zohreh Farzadfar OsloMet – Oslo Metropolitan University Faculty of Education and International Studies Department of International Studies and Interpreting Acknowledgements The present study would not have been possible without the help and support of the individuals in both Oslo Metropolitan University and Kon-Tiki museum, whom I would like to show my sincere appreciation. Firstly, I would like to appreciate my supervisor Thorgeir Kolshus for his precious time and consultations. He has been always available to help out meticulously regardless of the fact that he had got a lot on his plate. I have to thank all the welcoming people at the Kon-Tiki museum in Oslo, who have been to a great extent generous with their time and resources. My special thanks goes to my family and friends who have been always supporting me, specially my spouse Shahab, who has been encouraging me endlessly day in and day out. Last but not least, I would like to thank Oslo Metropolitan University for offering this worthy Master’s program in Multicultural and International Education, which made me grow cognitively, academically and astutely. Oslo, February 2020 Zohreh Farzadfar II Abstract Thor Heyerdahl (1914-2002), the Norwegian explorer, in 1947 did his first major expedition over the Pacific Ocean, which brought him world-wide fame. He believed that people from South America could have settled Polynesia in pre-Columbian times via crossing the Pacific Ocean by means of balsa-wood rafts. Nonetheless, this theory was in contrast to the ongoing theory at the time. In order to prove the feasibility of this theory, he decided to mount the Kon-Tiki expedition in company of 5 other men. On 28 April 1947, they started the journey and sailed the raft for 101 days. Finally, they had a successful landfall on 7 August 1947 in the Tuamotus archipelago. And now, the private Kon-Tiki museum housing the original Kon- Tiki raft is placed in Bygdøy, Oslo- Norway. Since this expedition took geographically place within Global South areas, and indigenous knowledge was playing a role in both the formation of the theory and building the raft, I found it pertinent to my Master’s program on Multicultural and International Education- South. The Kon-Tiki museum is exhibiting the raft, and is informing the visitors about the theory behind this expedition, and the Kon-Tiki leader as a hero. Thereupon, I decided to assess how this museum is making a meaningful learning environment for its visitors, and which notions are being emphasized in this regard. Consequently, I intended to analyze the Kon-Tiki theory and expedition from epistemological perspectives, alongside pedagogical issues at the museum. Being so, this thesis addresses both Global South related issues and pedagogical issues which have been the focal center of interest in this Master’s program. For data collection, I did oral interview with both museum staff and museum visitors who were selected based on convenient sampling. In addition, I observed 4 museum guided tours, and observed/interviewed a number of museum visitors outside the museum. Plus, I observed informative text and photos at the museum and on the Kon-Tiki website. The data was analyzed through the theoretical framework of heroism, adaptation theory, reader-response theory, monumental history, appeal structure and constructivist museum learning. The main findings of the study show that the Kon-Tiki museum is highly focused on the visitors’ needs and tries to present knowledge in an adapted form to suit its visitors interest and yet to grow its prosperity and fame. They have different modes of exhibiting the Kon-Tiki information, hence in all of them, they strive to engage emotionally the visitors in order to convey messages such as Thor Heyerdahl, an infinite source of inspiration who heroically conducted the Kon-Tiki expedition. Key words: Kon-Tiki, reader-response theory, adaptation, appeal structure III Picture number 1. Thor Heyerdahl on Easter Island (Ralling & Heyerdahl, 1990, p. 169). “Borders? I have never seen one. But I have heard they exist in the minds of some people” Thor Heyerdahl (1914-2002) IV Prologue Heroes and heroines are needed all the time. In our life, certain figures become larger than life, because we ourselves crave for guides to lead us through complex realities. One such hero in the twentieth century is the Norwegian experimental archeologist, Thor Heyerdahl (1914-2002). He stunned the world with his 1947 Kon-Tiki raft expedition across the Pacific, which turned out to become a world-wide media sensation (Andersson, 2010), mainly because people at that time were fed up with the plague of war, and had a thirst for listening to stories they could rejoice over. Since this expedition took place two years after World War II, it managed to spur a wave of postwar optimism regarding human achievements and global cooperation (Magelssen, 2016). And the glorious notions of bringing hope and exploring the world with no belief in any limiting “borders” after the devastating War is the appeal of the Kon-Tiki expedition, which did scaffold it to stand out, attract and survive after these many years. The Kon-Tiki expedition in short was to prove the theory that indigenous South Americans were the first people to populate the Polynesian Islands (Andersson, 2010; Holton, 2004). The voyage of the Kon-Tiki, with its “edge-of-the-seat battles” with freak weather, sharks, and against-all-odds reliance on primitive navigation, inspired a host of new academic projects using performative historiography for understanding past human practices (Magelssen, 2016, p. 25-27). Heyerdahl’s “performative experiment”, sailing a balsa raft named after the Peruvian sun god from South America to Polynesia, proved the feasibility of his theory of east-to-west population of the islands (Magelssen, 2016, p. 25-27). Heyerdahl enjoyed a high profile in popular culture and became an international celebrity, and his affiliated Kon-Tiki turned into a brand by the second half of the 20th century (Magelssen, 2016). He has been famous for his adventurous spirit and his scientific career (Hunt, 2006). He is widely recognized as one of the most prominent explorers of the 20th century, whose name is linked with bold expeditions, and his books and works have inspired millions. Thor Heyerdahl lived a life of adventure for well over five decades, posing scientific theories which often challenged the status quo and made him controversial (Andersson, 2010). Currently, the Kon-Tiki Museum in Bygdøy- Oslo houses the original Kon-Tiki raft and also RA II raft, and millions of people have visited this museum over the years. This is a private museum being financed by selling Kon-Tiki books, the expeditions’ memorabilia and by the museum visit entry fees. V A little more than 6 months before the raft’s departure from the Peruvian port of Callao, the ambitious Thor Heyerdahl travelled to New York. In that trip, he was carrying copies of a manuscript in which he had collected evidence that the Polynesian islands had first been settled through prehistoric migrations from the Americas, and not from Asia as the prevailing scientific opinion decreed. However, Thor Heyerdahl met massive opposition and at the time it seemed like nobody would take him seriously. Back in time, Thor Heyerdahl decided to discontinue his studies at the University of Oslo, and instead carry out research on his own, to prove that it was possible to drift with the Humboldt Current from South America to Polynesia on a balsa-wood raft. Almost 10 years before taking this decision, he had travelled to Polynesia with his newly-wed wife, Liv Coucheron-Torp, in a failed attempt to abandon Western civilization. But this time, in 1947, he intended to return there on a balsa wood raft from South America with a specific intention. The intention was to prove his theory that the indigenous South American peoples were the first ones to populate Polynesia, since they had the means (balsa wood rafts) to travel there (Andersson, 2010). On 28 April 1947, the vessel was ultimately towed out of the naval dockyard in Callao, the harbor town of the Peruvian capital Lima. Fifteen large balsa wood tied together and covered with bamboo matting, made a small raft named Kon-Tiki. The crew consisted of 6 men, 5 Norwegians and a Swede. They were to live aboard for 101 days in a small hut made of bamboo strands and banana leaves. The Kon-Tiki drifted more than 4000 miles in the Humboldt Current, from the shores of South America to French Polynesian islands (Andersson, 2010). VI Picture number 2. The Kon-Tiki crew. Left to right: Knut Haugland, Bengt Danielsson, Thor Heyerdahl, Erik Hesselberg, Torstein Raaby and Herman Watzinger. (Ralling & Heyerdahl, 1990, p. 108). Thor Heyerdahl published the Kon-Tiki book in 1948, and the first English Language edition was released in 1950. Besides the bestselling Kon-Tiki book, the Kon-Tiki movie produced in 1950 won the year’s Academy Award for the best documentary feature. Consequently, in the mid-1950s, Kon-Tiki had turned into a household name appearing on everything from cocktail menus to tourist hotels (Magelssen, 2016). VII Table of Contents Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................ II Abstract ...............................................................................................................................................